Chris G:
At first glance this card is obviously no Wall of Roots, which was a hell of a mana accelerator, leaving you time to ramp while holding off an early ground game. Still though, this card tries to do the same thing, and if the set does end up being as weirdly defender heavy as they claim it could be a very high pick. As it stands this card looks highly playable, and after playing Urza’s Saga drafts at PAX East all weekend, my evaluation of 1G dudes that tap for mana (Priest of Titania) is a bit higher than normal. It stands to be seen how relevant getting to the four slot will be in this format, or if a 0/4 will even be big enough to block given all the dude leveling-up and umbras which’ll likely be running around. Still, this is a solid looking card, and I’d be happy to have it passed my way.
Walls as a tribe. Who on earth saw that one coming?
obviously the set is not fully spoiled yet, and that’s where the excitement lies in this card. right now it’s one of the best picks, probably the #1 green non-rare. it FORCES a level-up mechanic from your opponent, while also accelerating any of yours. note that a 3x battlement draft deck will likely cast eldrazi spells and 4-of+ (before your local environment catches on) allows you to romp everyone with annihilators. catch the early edge and first-pick this card and shoot for 5 and watch your opponents beg for eldrazi mercy.
I’m not convinced that the designers of the set are going to slow the format down enough to make cards like this competitive enough.And good luck getting x3 of this card in a draft.
That’s why you read it here, Deuce! I can’t remember how many 3x Blightning decks i had in Shards x3 before people caught on. Other cards might look more powerful but remember you are building a deck. You will outclass everyone else with “sub-par heavy drops that cost too much.” They just don’t know that they won’t have an answer to them and can’t race you either.
This is a card which plays well against every limited opponent. It is a tempo boost when they are slow and it plays strong defense against blazing fast opponents.
I would disagree with Bertissim0 about this being at the top non-rare green cards in Rise, however. Kozilek’s Predator is a more efficient use of mana for the creature that comes attached and it can accelerate more explosively. Similarly, the uncommon leveler is more explosive. In addition to that acceleration the leveler lets you do something, if not something terribly exciting, with access mana. I think that that will be very important in a limited format that makes games go long.
Along with Kozilek’s Predator this card represents a lead for green in terms of power level in Rise limited.
great article mate but how do I get your rss feed?